AMAC Exclusive – By Daniel Roman
Much has been written already about the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse and his acquittal. The story dominated headlines over the weekend, and major news channels provided wall-to-wall coverage. But outside the media bubble, where some on the far left called for violent protest, and some on the right warned of it, the reaction has been more surprising for its anemia than its intensity. America has been through a lot the last two years, but the evidence is that the American people are tired of conflict, tired of culture war, and tired of strife. And despite media efforts to stir up trouble over this verdict as they did last summer, the American people are far more mature than their elites. The most powerful force in American politics, demonstrated in the elections three weeks ago, and again with the muted reaction to the verdict is a desire for normalcy. No more violence. No more racial “reckonings” of any kind. No more COVID restrictions.
This was evident in how white, wealthy Portland saw rioting after the verdict but Kenosha was quiet, as was almost every major African American neighborhood in the country. A few of the usual suspects popped up, such as 1619 Project Director Hannah Nikole-Jones, to declare that the verdict showed “In this country, you can even kill white people and get away with it if those white people are fighting for Black lives. This is the legacy of 1619.” But Jones is increasingly a figure of mockery, even among a surprising number of more moderate Democrats, and the last line of her tweet made the whole thing look like a low-effort move to sell copies of her underperforming book. MSNBC hosted a bizarre segment where Joy Reid discussed how the ruling meant open season on suburban white supporters of BLM. If you are a suburban white woman with a BLM sticker on your SUV, they are coming for you, she intoned, to the horrified look of one of her African American guests who must have believed she had taken a wrong turn and accidentally wandered onto the set of Saturday Night Live. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee made a bad taste effort to fundraise off the acquittal with a statement that was equal parts cringe and horrifying. “It is clear that our legal system has one set of rules for some Americans, and very different standards for others,” wrote Democrat Congressman Sean Patrick Mahoney, who as a Clinton staffer helped shepherd the Clinton crime bill through Congress.
Joe Biden’s comments while inappropriate for a sitting president were restrained to a press release. This perhaps showed an understanding that most Americans wanted to move on.
That was the lesson of the elections in Virginia and New Jersey. For all the focus on Critical Race Theory, Democrats misunderstood the parental backlash, seeing it as being in favor of a different sort of ideological education in schools, rather than as a backlash against using schools for ideological education. The key thing that was driving it was that parents did not wish for their schools to be a battlefield. They did not wish for their children, whether white or black or Asian, to be told that society was a war of all against all and that after being divided by race, they should be told their friends of different backgrounds would be their natural enemies for life.
Democrats are still blind to this. Reporting indicates that they plan to go hard on CRT, by framing the education issue as a struggle between those who wish to “censor” presumably conservative parents, and those who wish to promote “racial justice” through CRT. Leaving aside the twisted framing, this promises to do exactly what the overwhelming majority of parents of all backgrounds do not want. Turn schools into a battlefield. The left is likely to have no more luck rallying the troops here than they had trying to incite violence following the Rittenhouse verdict.
There is also a COVID element to the return to normality. It is often forgotten, but never should be, that the riots of June 2020 took place after three months of lockdown. 300 million Americans with almost no exceptions obediently locked themselves into their homes, pulled their children out of school, and socially distanced to protect not just themselves, but everyone else. Whether you think it was necessary or not, it stands as probably the single most unifying and socially-conscious act Americans have undertaken in recent history, and among the most selfless.
Then came the riots. For millions of Americans who had been told we were all in this together and locked themselves inside, to see tens of thousands of young lefties pouring into the streets, drinking, smashing windows, setting cars on fire, without any concern for social distancing or even the law itself was infuriating. But what created a sense of mass betrayal was the actions of the media. The same media that had called for everyone to stay home, and which would later suggest those who did not wear masks were endangering others, not only did not condemn the rioters but praised them. The loss of faith was enormous, and the media and institutions failed to grasp it.
Ironically, Americans are people of faith and they always wish to have that faith restored. Just as the riots of last summer and the tragedies which triggered them and accompanied them drove that loss of faith, perhaps the Rittenhouse acquittal be the beginning of a kind of healing. The justice system worked. The facts came out. Despite the efforts of the media to turn the trial into a circus, and the complicity
Much has been written already about the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse and his acquittal. The story dominated headlines over the weekend, and major news channels provided wall-to-wall coverage. But outside the media bubble, where some on the far left called for violent protest, and some on the right warned of it, the reaction has been more surprising for its anemia than its intensity. America has been through a lot the last two years, but the evidence is that the American people are tired of conflict, tired of the culture war, and tired of strife. And despite media efforts to stir up trouble over this verdict as they did last summer, the American people are far more mature than their elites. The most powerful force in American politics demonstrated in the elections three weeks ago and again with the muted reaction to the verdict is a desire for normalcy. No more violence. No more racial “reckonings” of any kind. No more COVID restrictions.
This was evident in how white, wealthy Portland saw rioting after the verdict, but Kenosha was quiet, as was almost every major African American neighborhood in the country. A few of the usual suspects popped up, such as 1619 Project Director Hannah Nikole-Jones, to declare that the verdict showed, “In this country, you can even kill white people and get away with it if those white people are fighting for Black lives. This is the legacy of 1619.” But Jones is increasingly a figure of mockery, even among a surprising number of more moderate Democrats, and the last line of her tweet made the whole thing look like a low-effort move to sell copies of her underperforming book. MSNBC hosted a bizarre segment where Joy Reid discussed how the ruling meant open season on suburban white supporters of BLM. If you are a suburban white woman with a BLM sticker on your SUV, they are coming for you, she intoned, to the horrified look of one of her African American guests who must have believed she had taken a wrong turn and accidentally wandered onto the set of Saturday Night Live. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee made a bad taste effort to fundraise off the acquittal with a statement that was equal parts cringe and horrifying. “It is clear that our legal system has one set of rules for some Americans and very different standards for others,” wrote Democrat Congressman Sean Patrick Mahoney. He, as a Clinton staffer, helped shepherd the Clinton crime bill through Congress.
Joe Biden’s comments, while inappropriate for a sitting president, were restrained to a press release. This perhaps showed an understanding that most Americans wanted to move on.
That was the lesson of the elections in Virginia and New Jersey. For all the focus on Critical Race Theory, Democrats misunderstood the parental backlash, seeing it as being in favor of a different ideological education in schools rather than as a backlash against using schools for ideological education. The key thing driving it was that parents did not wish for their schools to be a battlefield. They did not wish for their children, whether white or black or Asian, to be told that society was a war of all against all and that after being divided by race, they should be told their friends of different backgrounds would be their natural enemies for life.
Democrats are still blind to this. Reporting indicates that they plan to go hard on CRT by framing the education issue as a struggle between those who wish to “censor” presumably conservative parents and those who wish to promote “racial justice” through CRT. Leaving aside the twisted framing, this promises to do exactly what the overwhelming majority of parents of all backgrounds do not want. Turn schools into a battlefield. The left is likely to have no more luck rallying the troops here than they had trying to incite violence following the Rittenhouse verdict.
There is also a COVID element to the return to normality. It is often forgotten, but never should be, that the riots of June 2020 took place after three months of lockdown. Three hundred million Americans, with almost no exceptions, obediently locked themselves into their homes, pulled their children out of school, and socially distanced to protect not just themselves but everyone else. Whether you think it was necessary or not, it stands as probably the single most unifying and socially-conscious act Americans have undertaken in recent history and among the most selfless.
Then came the riots. For millions of Americans who had been told we were all in this together and locked themselves inside, to see tens of thousands of young lefties pouring into the streets, drinking, smashing windows, setting cars on fire, without any concern for social distancing or even the law itself was infuriating. But what created a sense of mass betrayal was the actions of the media. The same media that had called for everyone to stay home, and which would later suggest those who did not wear masks were endangering others, not only did not condemn the rioters but praised them. The loss of faith was enormous, and the media and institutions failed to grasp it.
Ironically, Americans are people of faith, and they always wish to have that faith restored. Just as the riots of last summer and the tragedies which triggered them and accompanied them drove that loss of faith, perhaps the Rittenhouse acquittal be the beginning of a kind of healing. The justice system worked. The facts came out. Despite the efforts of the media to turn the trial into a circus and the complicity of a prosecutor who seemingly goaded the judge in order to slander him as biased, not only was the correct outcome reached but by and large, it has been accepted. Not just by the right but by much of the political center. By an African American community whose faith in the justice system is not high. It is only the fringe far-left that is upset. Everyone else wants to walk back from the path of disunity. It is a hopeful sign that they may now have the chance.
of a prosecutor who seemingly goaded the judge in order to slander him as biased, not only was the correct outcome reached, but by and large it has been accepted. Not just by the right but by much of the political center. By an African American community whose faith in the justice system is not high. It is only the fringe far-left that is upset. Everyone else wants to walk back from the path of disunity. It is a hopeful sign that they may now have the chance.
Daniel Roman is the pen name of a frequent commentator and lecturer on foreign policy and political affairs, both nationally and internationally. He holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from the London School of Economics.
